Improvement in turbine water-wheels



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THEODORE M. FULLER, OF HAINESVILLE, NEW JERSEY.

Letters Patent No. 91,430, dated .Tune 15, 1869.

IMPRQVEMEN' IN TURBINE WATER-WHEELS.

The:` Schedule referred to in these Lettere Patent: and making part ofthe same.

To all whom it mwy concern Be it known thatI, THEODORE M. FULLER,ofHainesville, in the State of New Jersey, haveinventeda certain new anduseful Improvement on Water-Wheels; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, and to the .letters and marksthereon, which said drawings form part of this specification, and show,by the several 'rigures thereof, a water-wheel, and parts of the same',constructed under my invention- Figure 1 being a top view of thel wheel;

Figure 2, a side View;

Figures 3 and 4, views of one of the buckets;

Figure 5, an underneath view, with the bottom plate and spindle-bearingremoved; and

Figure 6, a side view of the wheel, the gates and bottom parts beingremoved.

In all of these figures, ywhere like parts are shown, like marks andletters are used to indicate the parts.

This wheel is ofthe horizontal kind, and is intended to be placed in theume, or penstock, and is peculiarly adapted for low heads of water Aswill be noticed, there are several buckets aflixed to the hub of thespindle or shaft, and several gates surrounding the buckets, which `areadjustable, to -regulate the ingress of the Water.

The bucket a may be cast hollow, and the buckets and the hub b may, insome instances, be cast in one piece.

These buckets are of a peculiar for-rn, 4(see figs. 3 and 4,) moreparticularly the back part, being rounded, and the face or front partnearly tangential and vertical, except that the lower part is curved andincliniug outward and downward.

This rounding of the back limits the action of the greatest portion ofthe water to the outer edge of the bucket, where it will exert the mostpower; 'while the inclining out of the vertical part of the faceincreases the space for the' water at the point of its greatest force.

The incliuing outward of the lower part of the face, or what may betermed the horizontal part, facilitates the discharge of the water atthe point where the heaviest portion has its bearing.

These buckets, when made separate from the hub,

will have the surface next to the hubproperly curved or recessed, to fitthe face ofl thehub, and will be made fast to the hub by suitable means.

The spindle or shaft c has its bearing d on the curved cross-bar e,which -is attached to the plate f and rim g.

Between this lower plate, j, and upper plate la., are the gates e. Theinner ends of the gates have pins, which fit into holes iu the plates fand h, and by which pins they are thus pivoted.

The upper edges of the outer ends of the gates have also pins, the pinof each gate passing through a slot, j, in the plate It, up into arecess under the covers It, of plate l.

'lhis plate lis held on to plate h by lugs fm.. For a short distance, n,the edge of plate l is toothed, into which lit the teeth of the wheel o,the shaft of which has a bottom bearing in a supporting-bar between theplates f and h, and an upper bearing in the bar p, which extends fromand is secured to the top of plate h.

The turning of the wheel o will move the plate l,- and through it theouter ends of the gates, thus closing or opening the passage for thewater between the gates to the wheel, or diminishing or increasing thispassage, as may be required.

Between the plates f and h, at suitable points for support, are uprightbars or piece g, and around the spindle or shaft is a suitable supportand stuffingbox, a'.

Having thus set forth my invention,

What I claim a's new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. lhe bucket a, with the rounded back and'enearly tangential andvertical face, but the lower part thereof curved outward and downward,as herein set forth.

2. The arrangement of the wheel o, plates Z and h, in their relation tothel outer end of the gates i, and for operating said gates, as hereinrecited.

rlhis specification signed, this 17 tb day of October, 1868.

THEODORE M. FULLER.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM CLARK, Hmm 0. CLARK.

